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REVIEWED The best small size Android tablets

Which 8inch or less slates are best for you?

TESTED Smartphones for less than R1 600

Three keenly priced contendors face off.

PLUS Apple Music is here

What you need to know about iOS 9: New apps, new features revealed. ISSUE 17 | JULY 2015 | HTXT.CO.ZA

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Contents

www.htxt.co.za

ISSUE #17

July 2015

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

TIME TO UPGRADE YOUR HOME

very where you go these days something has got smarter. Whether it’s your phone, your library books, your watch or even your city - smart is the word of decade. Smart technologies make us more efficient and make life that little bit more convenient. The most important ingredient is, of course, your home. Get that right and you can be enjoying the very latest in modern living with streaming, on-demand entertainment, the latest in videogames and superfast web browsing to put the whole world at your fingertips. It’s easy to be stupid when being smart, though. If you don’t upgrade your home in the right way you’ll spend a fortune and still be left with shoddy WiFi and a stuttering net connection. So take our advice over on page 35 and get the ultimate home without paying the ultimate price. Elsewhere this month we’ve taken a look at the latest smartphone from BlackBerry – the BlackBerry Leap – which the manufacturer is banking on helping it to retain presence in key markets like South Africa. We’ve also looked at LG’s new flagship, the G4 and rounded Operator up the best bargain phones on the market too. ’s sub-R500 Steppa is first of its kind. But the biggest news of the month is the latest update obile opera tor MTN has from Apple - iOS 9 - which brings streaming to Africa’s first important for South Africa. launcmusic hed South Andr Sadly, MTN has confir med that there oid-powered smartphone your phone. ’s

MTN launches supercheap smartphone

that’s available on pre-pay for less than R500. It certainly an African first, and may even a world one: as far as we know, there’s no other smartphone in this class PUBLISHER: Brett Haggard – brett@htxt.co.za available for less than $50 anywhere. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Adam Oxford – adam@htxt.co.za That makes it quite a milestone in MANAGING EDITOR: NIck Cowen - nick@htxt.co.za putting high-tech handsets within the HARDWARE & GAMES: Deon du Plessis –reach deon@htxt.co.za of everyone. Which is awesome. TECH & NEWS: Charlie Fripp – charlie@htxt.co.za The phone itself isn’t, of course, hugel y STARTUPS & STUFF: Lungelo Shezi – lungelo@htxt.co.za powerful. It’s based on a Qualcomm reference design, so it has a 1GHz single SENIOR DESIGNER: Quinton Hoffmann – quinton@htxt.co.za core Snapdragon processor, a 3.5in ch screen and a mere 2MP camera on ADVERTISING: Dorothy Haggard – dorothy@hypertext.co.za board. More limiting is the fact that there’s Sengezo Jubane – sengezo@hypertext.co.za only 512MB of memory and 1GB of storag e on-board. The screen is a decent enough multitouch affair, which takes up most

It’s a milestone which puts hightech handsets within the reach of everyone…

no plans to upgrade the Steppa to a more recent version of Android, although local hackers are investigating the possib ility of unlocking the phone and flashing a custom firmware. There’s an FM radio though, along with a microSD port for upgrading the storag e. What you don’t get, however, is a fast HSPA radio for high speed internet access – you’ll have to settle for plain old 3G. All in all, though, it’s a heck of a phone for the price. Not even Nokia can come close with its Asha range of semismartphones, which start at about R799 and don’t have access to half the numb er of apps and services the Steppa has. Like the sound of this super budget smartphone? See our full review at

of the front of the device. There’s no physical keyboard. It also runs a positively ancient versio n of Google’s Android OS, Gingerbre ad. Still, that does still mean it’s able to access BlackBerry Messenger, which is hugel y

SPECIAL ’S READER T! N DISCOU F! R400 OF

WANT TO KNOW MORE? USE Bit.ly

htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy is At the bottom of almost every produced by: Hypertext Media, 102 on 11th, article in Tech Easy CLIMATE CHA NGE WILLMade CAUSE MORE Highlands North, 2192, Johannesburg STORM DAM AGEsee you’ll IN one SA of these strange More news at Contact Us: sts from short codes.Two It’sscienti a Bit.ly adress Wits have published a paper which says Email: info@hypertext.co.za shortening link, which means that that South Africa may be at when you type it into web go to htxt.co.za Tel: (011) 023-8001/4 increas ed riskyour of tropical storm damag browser it will take e. you to a longer Fax: 08654 83304 Our content is licensed under a Creative 6 | TECH MADE EASY | MARCH 2014 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. Other rights may apply for non-original materials.

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MediaShareWireless Wireless MediaShare MediaShare Portable wirelessWireless streaming for Portable wireless streaming for Portable wireless streaming for your tablet or smartphone your tablet or smartphone your tablet or smartphone

STORE, STREAM & SHARE...Anywhere! STORE, STREAM & SHARE...Anywhere! Tablets and smartphones are often limited by their built-in STORE, STREAM SHARE...Anywhere! Tablets andcapacity smartphones are& often limited by their built-in storage and their ability to access content saved

storage ability limited toWireless, access content elsewhere. Withand the their MediaShare you built-in cansaved access Tablets andcapacity smartphones are often by their elsewhere. With the MediaShare Wireless, you can access and enjoy your files without wires or an internet connection. storage capacity and their ability to access content saved and enjoyWith yourthe filesMediaShare without wires or an internet connection. elsewhere. Wireless, you can access STREAM and enjoy your files without wires or an internet connection. STREAM • Connect up to 5 devices to the MediaShare and share video, music, STREAM • Connect up to 5 devices to the MediaShare and share video, music, photos and data. photos and data. • Connect up to 5 devices to the MediaShare and share video, music, USB/SD CONNECTION photos and data. USB/SD CONNECTION • Built-in USB port and SD Memory slot allows easy access to content from a USB USB/SD CONNECTION • Built-in USB porthard anddrive SD Memory slot allows easy access to content from a USB drive, portable or SD memory card*. drive, portable or SD memory card*. • Built-in USB porthard and drive SD Memory slot allows easy access to content from a USB WIRELESS drive, BRIDGE portable hard drive or SD memory card*. WIRELESS BRIDGE • Upload and download content wirelessly to and from your tablet or smartphone. WIRELESS • UploadBRIDGE and download content wirelessly to and from your tablet or smartphone. RECHARGING SMARTPHONES • Upload andFOR download content wirelessly to and from your tablet or smartphone. RECHARGING FOR SMARTPHONES • The integrated 3000mAh battery can be used as a powerpack for your smartphone. RECHARGING FOR SMARTPHONES • The integrated 3000mAh battery can be used as a powerpack for your smartphone. •

The integrated 3000mAh battery can be used as a powerpack for your smartphone.

Scan the QR-Code to watch video. to Scan the the QR-Code watch the video. Scan the * USBQR-Code drive, hard driveto or SD memory card not included. watch the video. * USB drive, hard drive or SD memory card not included. * USB drive, hard drive or SD memory card not included.

Mitsubishi Chemical holdings Group Mitsubishi Chemical holdings Group Mitsubishi Chemical holdings Group

Contents ISSUE #17

July 2015

Need to know

47 5 6 9 10

n d s n.

Happenings from the world of tech. Random Hacks of Kindness Things people do for the love of it. M-Pesa upgraded Plus new GTA news. Apple Music is here! Streaming sounds come to iPhone. Destiny gets bigger! Plus: Fallout 4 confirmed and more E3 news. This month in science Courtesy of our friends at SciBraai

Photos made easy 29 31 33

17 21 24 26

What you must read before you buy. Awesome tablets tested Which slate should you buy? The best phones under R1 500 Looking for a bargain smartphone? Here you are. LG G4 The new flagship from the Korean kings. BlackBerry Leap Can the mid-priced handset save the firm?

Advice from our photo experts.

News Nikon’s latest mid-length lens. Olloclip Add a powerful piece of glass to your iPhone Photo interview Meet the SA tog who’s gone back to basics.

How to…

The best reviews

www.htxt.co.za

The best tech guides in the country. Ultimate guide to home networking Everything you ever wanted to know to teak your home WiFi and more.

The stuff at the back 45 48

Where else would it sit? Competition Win an awesome LG G4! This month in stats All the numbers it’s safe to print.

10 24 WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 3

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Smart bottles, clever hospitals: 4 Random Hacks of Kindness

Coders come together for weekend long hackathon to make apps that do good.

auteng coders are helpful folk, and never more so than when they’re taking part in the twice annual Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) hackathon. The latest one took place in Pretoria at the start of June, and local teams competed to create the next innovation to help change the world for the better in just 36 hours. After working through the night, the teams demoed what they’d done. Here’s the projects that stood out.

ELECTRONIC APPLIANCE CONTROL SYSTEM (EACS)

With the ubiquity of internet of things making its way onto every second smart device released, it’s no surprise that you can even buy a fridge that Tweets. With the likes of Google throwing its weight behind home automation, it’s astounding to see a similar prototype put together right here in our country on a shoestring. Powered by an Intel Edison, the EACS aims to really get its users engaged in the way they use electricity, a particularly

touchy subject right now. The planned system will work via an app that will let users monitor their usage and remotely turn anything in their house on or off. The app also allows the developers to mine and collect data on electricity usage to help municipalities make better plans for infrastructure development.

THE SMART WATER BOTTLE

This one really took us by surprise as it’s a project both equal parts ambitious and leftof-the-dial. How does tracking your water consumption by strapping an Arduino circuit board to a bottle grab you? The plan for this hardware is to register and assign unique numbers to bottles in order for users to track water intake. The included app will make suggestions to them based on their habits, and hopefully aid them in staying healthy. Users will be able to refill their bottles at refilling stations throughout the country, which they’ll be able to find via Google Maps.

TEAM RHOCK IT

The biggest problem regarding endangered wildlife is the lack of education and information about them. Team Rhok It’s mobile app is designed to gather and sort that information and explain it to users in a way that will help everyone understand the importance of preserving the fauna and flora of South Africa.

BH911

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Pretoria is the third largest hospital in the world and always under pressure trying to help people with details of how to get to the hospital and how to get around once you’re there. The BH911 team began working on an app to help people find the hospital for a start, and then remind them about follow up treatments and medication cycles as well as offer general health and wellbeing advice from hospital staff. The team made a strong start on the app over the weekend, but there’s plenty of work left to do. Bit.ly/1JPF47I

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 5

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Kenyan UK expats can now make payments home with M-Pesa

enyan citizens living in UK now have an easier way to make payments back home from their mobile phone with M-Pesa PayBill. Previously, M-Pesa PayBill only allowed Safaricom subscribers in Kenya to pay vendors and sort out their utility bills via mobile. Now, with the help of global digital money transfer provider, SimbaPay, any M-Pesa users in the UK can make international payments “Our customers want to pay vendors in Kenya faster and without having to go through friends and family. This new product allows them to do just that,

especially for time sensitive payments such as those to hospitals, stock brokers and the like,” SimbaPay CEO, Nyasinga Onyancha said. Expats don’t need a Safaricom phone number or M-Pesa registration to use PayBill as is currently the case for M-Pesa subscribers living in Kenya. All you need is a UK bank account, debit or credit card. SimbaPay also charges zero fees for its instant transfers to M-Pesa PayBill numbers. M-Pesa PayBill will be made available to more European countries soon. Bit.ly/1LaZG7w

Make and learn to fly your own drone

W Design a 3D printed clock or arm and you could win R5 000

D print product designers and makers, listen up. The Rapid Product Development Association of South Africa (RAPDASA) has just opened up entries for a 3D design competition this November. The competition seeks to promote the local 3D print industry and find RAPDASA’s newest recruit. You can design any kind of functioning wall or table-mounted clock at a printing volume of either 330x330x50mm³ or 200x150x100 mm³. It can either be a finished piece, or pieces of a design that can be assembled. Each entry will be evaluated according to the practicality of the design, aesthetics and originality and if the components of the design fit into the allowed build volume. The Department of Occupational Health at Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein is looking for an arm design that will help patients suffering from weak muscle strength, some as a result of disorders such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, which lead to patients not being able to lift their arms. The arm should have a build volume of 600x120x100mm³ and be designed in such a way that it allows an adult to their right arm above their head while seated on the wooden chair below. Bit.ly/1LaZNQx

6 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

SPECIAL ’S READER T! DISCOUN F! R400 OF

orried about how you’re going to get your pilot’s licence to fly a drone under South Africa’s new regulations? Capetonian hackers and Arduino training outfit Curiosity Campus wants to help you prepare for when they kick in at the start of next month. Under the guidance of MIT graduate and drone entrepreneur James Paterson of Aerobotics, you’ll be taken through the process of building and flying a remote control quadcopter, as well as guidance around the new law and what sort of applications you might put your new found knowledge to. The course is taught in four parts over four days. Naturally, you get to take the drone home with you afterwards. If you’re interested, the dates and times are below, along with the costs to. You can apply by emailing Curiosity Campus lead Niel Bekker via email at info@curiositycampus.co.za – and if you include the voucher code “HTXT” in your mail, you get a healthy 5% (or R400) discount too. DATES • 21st, 23rd, 28th & 30th July: 6.30PM to 9.30PM • 1st August (flying practical): 10AM to 1PM VENUE • 27 Caledon Street, Cape Town, 8001 PRICE(S) • R8 500: one student • R11 000: one student + first person view goggles & camera • R9 800: two students working together on one drone • R12 300: two students working together on one drone + first person view goggles & camera For more information please email info@curiositycampus.co.za. Bit.ly/1LaZYez

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Record Every Critical Moment If the DrivePro Dri 100's built-in G-Sensor detects an impact during recording, it will instantly trigger Emergency Recording mode up to 1 minute (30 seconds before and after the incident). Alternatively, you can also activate emergency recording mode manually by pressing the red emergency button; this is useful when situations occur outside the vehicle where you need to collect evidence in case of a fraudulent claim or lawsuit. Video files recorded in emergency mode are protected from being overwritten.

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NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

iOS9 to bring split screen multitasking and Flipboard-style News app

pple has unveiled the next version of its mobile operating system, iOS 9, and the big news is that – unusually for Apple – all phones and iPads which were capable of running iOS 8 will be eligible for the free upgrade to iOS 9. No phone will be left obsolete this year, which is great for all iPhone owners. So what’s inside the update? As far as iPhone goes, the big changes are in the way Siri is now capable of predicting your activities, making it a little bit more like Google Now. The example given by senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi is that if you read a book at a particular time every day, Siri will now fire up the books app ready for your perusal. There’s also a brand new News app, which acts like Flipboard in that it aggregates feeds from your favourite websites and redraws them in a magazine style layout with zoomable pictures. Newsstand as was will be switched off – we’re not sure yet how this will affect existing subscriptions to Newstand

magazines. Over on iPad, meanwhile, there’s a couple of big changes. The first is that you can now have floating video screens for picture-in-picture apps and split screen multitasking. Both these features have been available on several Android phones and tablets (notably the Samsung Galaxy Note series) for a while, but they’re welcome here nonetheless. More originally, the keyboard is also getting an overhaul, and you can now turn it into a trackpad by dragging across it with two fingers. While the headline features of iOS9 are mostly slick implementations of what’s already available elsewhere, it’s under the hood that it looks like Apple has done the most innovating. It’s introduced new games programming libraries for physics and AI and extended its graphics programming tech, Metal, to OSX as well as iOS. It’s also updating its programming language, Swift, to version 2 and pledged to open source it by the end of the year.

Apple Music is coming… to Android phones

pple has announced its much anticipated music streaming service, Apple Music, which will see the company take on the likes of Spotify and Pandora with a monthly subscription for access to all songs in its iTunes music library. The service launches on 30th June for iOS, Mac and PC, and later this year will be extended to Apple TV and, in a surprise twist, Android devices. Apple Music has been expected ever since the firm acquired Dr Dre’s Beats company last year. The unexpectedly multiplatform nature of Apple Music indicates just how serious the company is about recapturing its place as the de facto entry point for digital

More stories at go to htxt.co.za

10 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

he first three Uncharted games will be released for the Playstation 4 on October 9th this year in a package that is imaginatively entitled, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection. The collection will not include the spinoff for the Playstation Vita, Golden Abyss. The package will be developed by Bluepoint Games who have a proven track-record for ports and remasters, which include the God of War, Ico & Shadow of the Colossus and Metal Gear Solid HD Collections. To make the offer sweeter, Sony has also promised that the three games in the collection will run at a resolution of 1080p at 60 frames per second. For those who like to pre-order, doing so will not only get you immediate access to the Uncharted 4 multiplayer beta (the release date of which has not been announced), but also a PS4 dynamic theme and “the Nathan Drake Pack”. The pack includes single player skins for Drake and gold versions of the in-game AK-47 and 92FS. Bit.ly/1eEBTmB

MARIOS BROS FAN CROCHETS GAME INTO A GIANT RUG Check out this Norwegian gamer who’s crocheted a complete map of World 1 from the original Marios Bros’ game. That’s dedication Bit.ly/1eEC6pT

WHAT DID NINTENDO ANNOUNCE AT E3 THIS YEAR? The Japanese games giant didn’t exactly wow us with new titles at the games festival, but check out the Mario and Zelda updates coming your way here. Bit.ly/1eECBQG

NEED TO KNOW: GAMES

Minecraft will be playable with Xbox Hololens

uring Microsoft’s E3 presentation, the company was expected to mention something about its augmented reality hardware HoloLens, but while it didn’t exactly show off a ton, it did show off a new addition to Minecraft that is in development for the system. During the live demonstration, it was explained that the game can be streamed from the Xbox One to HoloLens. Which means that you’ll see it as if it’s projeced onto a wall. If that isn’t your thing, you can move the three dimensional game to a flat surface like a table and wander around it.

The walls and towers of your Minecraft world will only be visible to you. You will also be able to issue commands and actions, not only with the controller, but also using your hands and voice. Once projected onto a table, you will be able to walk around the whole world and get a better bird’s eye view of the playing surface, as well as look underneath the top soil. No release date has been given for HoloLens or the Minecraft compatibility. Check out videos here: Bit.ly/1eECW5M

Shenmue Kickstarter raises R20m in 24 hours

Cape Town is first SA city to get own Monopoly board

his year’s E3 has been full of surprises, such as the Xbox One’s backwards compatibility, the announcement of a Final Fantasy VII remake and the fact that The Last Guardian isn’t vaporware. But arguably the biggest among them – the one that brought tears to the eyes of gamers and media in attendance – was the announcement that Shenmue 3 could become a reality. In a trailer shown at Sony’s E3 press briefing, the series’ creator, Yo Suzuki, announced that he’d launched a Kickstarter to fund Shenmue 3. “The fate of Shenmue is in your hands,” he told fans and expo attendees. He didn’t have to wait long for them to respond with their wallets. Shenmue 3’s Kickstarter shot past its initial ask of $2 million in roughly nine hours, making it one of the fastest projects on the crowd-sourcing website to reach its target. At the time of this writing, it’s closing in on the $3 million mark. It’s now pretty much a given that the game will go into production and if all goes according to plan it should see release on the PS4 and PC platforms after that. If you’ve never heard of them, the Shenmue games were a couple of RPGs originally released on the Sega Dreamcast (Shenmue II was later ported onto the original Xbox). They followed the story of Ryo, who after witnessing the death of his father at the hands of a man named Lan Di, pursues him from Japan to Hong Kong on a trail of vengeance. The games garnered masses of critical acclaim and sales for their immersive open worlds, epic plots and engrossing – and sometimes frustrating mechanics. Bit.ly/1eEDmcA

ape Town is set to become the first South African city to have its own Monopoly board. The game is slated for release this November, and what’s more, players get to vote on which of Cape Town’s landmarks will appear in the game. “Cape Town has long been on our list of regional Monopoly targets and when we had the Mother City included on our anniversary edition, we knew this year was the one to bring Monopoly to Cape Town’s shores,” said Dan Taylor, head of regional Monopoly. “We’re extremely excited to see how it’s received and have high hopes that Cape Town will be the first of many South African Monopoly games launched in the next three years.” Bit.ly/1eED714

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 13

THIS MONTH IN SCIENCE

Tanzanian water filter takes top innovation prize Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation debut awards announced.

new nanoparticle-based water filtration system will soon be saving lives all over rural Tanzania, thanks to the Royal Academy for Engineering’s inaugural Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. At the final leg of the competition in Cape Town on Monday night, Dr Askwar Hilonga of the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science & Technology in Tanzania took home more than R450 000 in seed funding to produce his new filtration system. He will also receive training and mentorship as part of the programme. Fifty-five applications were received from 15 different African countries, which were narrowed down to 12 semi-finalists. After six months of work on their business plan, four entrepreneurs were selected from this group to compete for the final prize. Dr Hilonga’s Nanofilter was up against stiff competition: the Draadsitter device (from SA inventor Ernst Pretorius)

14 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

detects interference with a fence, the Spot Fertiliser Applicator (Zambia’s Musenga Silwawa) helps small-scale farmers with fertilising their crops, and Chura (Kenyan entrepreneur Samuel Wangui) is an airtime transfer service to help Africans get the best value from their service providers. All four finalists had a chance to present a five-minute pitch before the judges and audience made their decision. In the end, the life-saving potential of the Nanofilter clearly swayed both judges and audience. According to Hilonga, 88% of child deaths in Tanzania are caused by water problems – either waterborne diseases or toxic compnents in the water. His company, Gongali Model, identifies the most common waterborne contaminants in an area, and then creates an optimised mix of nanomaterials to treat water in that area. This mix is then inserted into reusable filters. The technology is fully recyclable and built from local materials. The Nanofilter system is already installed in several houses and schools

in rural Tanzania, and the company just entered into an agreement with Global Sustainable Partnership (GSP) to provide Nanofilters to 100 Tanzanian schools. Hilonga says that the prize money will go towards producing the Nanofilter on a larger scale in order to bring costs down. The three runner’s up all received nearly R200 000 towards developing their own innovations further. There is no doubt that all four of these innovating entrepreneurs will go far, thanks in part to the support of the Royal Academy for Engineering. Bit.ly/1SK9ASb

WANT MORE SCIENCE? VISIT SCIBRAAI! Every month we bring the best of science news in SA courtesy of our friends at SciBraai. Check out their work at www.scibraai.co.za!

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WHICH IS THE BEST...

Tiny Android Tablet? Three tablets between 7- and 8inches enter, only one leaves. And it might not be the one you think.

nce upon a time, all tablets were 9 or 10inches or more, and bigger was generally thought to be better. Then came the minis: the 6 to 7inchers,

and they showed that small was good – even if the screens were a bit hard to read. Now we have 8inch tablets, which occupy the sweet spot between smartphones and

ultrabook laptops and they’re just about perfect: pocketable, but powerful. But which is the best? Read on for our exclusive reviews and find out.

SONY XPERIA TABLET Z3 COMPACT DETAILS • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon Quad-Core MSM8974PRO-AC @ 2.5GHz • RAM: 3GB • Storage: 16GB, expandable by 128GB via microSD • Operating System: Android 5.0.2 • Display: 8inch TRILUMINOS Display for mobile @ 1920x1200 pixels • Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth • Camera: 8.1MP rear-facing, 2.2MP front-facing R6 599 (WiFi only, 16GB storage)

ony’s Xperia Tablet Z3 Compact (we’ll just call it the Z3 Compact from here on out) is astoundingly good, but it’s also the priciest of the bunch at R6 599. Justifying that price, it’s waterproof, has the nicest build of all three and simply flies through everything from the Android interface to games. And that screen… wow! Its 1 200p resolution (1 920x1 200) coupled with Sony’s excellent TRILUMINOS for Mobile display technology makes for amazing viewing on the go. Gamers will especially love it, as the Z3 Compact can make use of Sony’s Remote Play feature that lets them play PlayStation 3 and 4 games on it using a standard Dual Shock 3 or 4 controller. Everything relating to media is

exceptionally well done here too. Music sounds great on the Z3 Compact’s speakers, movies look bright and vibrant on the gorgeous screen, and there is nary a pixel to be eyeballed. In short, this is a really good little tablet, and one you should totally buy if you happen to have R6.5k lying around. But, and this is a rather big but, our review unit is just a tablet. There is no space for a SIM card, so it can’t make phone calls or use mobile data when you’re away from WiFi, which limits its usefulness somewhat if you’re regularly on the go. If you want 4G connectivity as well, you need to add another R1 900 onto its price tag. Apart from that gripe, the Xperia Tablet Z3 Compact is, otherwise, utterly sublime.

SCORES Look & feel

Performance

Value for money

Overall

HOW DOES SA’S OWN SMARTPOYNT COMPARE? WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 17

SUPERTEST

ASUS ZENPAD Z170MG DETAIL • Processor: Intel Atom quad core @ 1GHz • RAM: 1GB • Storage: 16GB, expandable by microSD • Operating System: Android 5.0.2 • Display:7inch IPS touch display @ 1024x600 • Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth,2G, 3G • Camera: 1.9MP rear-facing, 0.3MP front-facing R1 999

he Zenpad Z170MG is a 7inch tablet that inherits much from the firm’s previous Fonepad and Nexus ranges, although it’s priced a bit more competitively and thus slightly less well specced as a result. It has enough going for it that it should hold quite a lot of appeal for everyday folks just looking for a good, all-round tablet, but it falls short of impressing us tech types looking for the next iPad killer. There’s much that the Zenpad does right. We certainly think it feels marvellous in the hand, with a body that’s slightly smaller than the Z3 compact and a pattern on the back cover for that faux leather look. The feel of the cover against your fingertips is quite pleasant, and everything feels very sturdy. If there’s one thing that’s changed over the last 12 months, it’s that lower cost tablets are generally built better than they were.. 18 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

And then there’s its dual-SIM capacity, allowing you to run two cell numbers sideby-side which is incredibly handy if you use a lot of mobile data, as switching tariffs when you run out rather than buying topups can be highly cost effective. But when it comes to loading apps and browsing the internet, this little guy feels far too much like a tablet from a couple of years ago. It’s not unbearably sluggish, but there’s noticeable lag between pressing a link on a website/selecting options/loading settings and the tablet doing something. It’s not a major flaw, and somewhat surprising given our previous experiece of quad core Atom CPUs, but it’s definitely apparent. While that can be overlooked, the screen lets the Zenpad down quite badly. It only goes 1024x600, and as a result its text and other elements are noticeably pixelated. Graphics

and websites don’t look very sharp, but fortunately games appear okay if you don’t look too closely. The Zenpad Z170MG is a good option for someone with easy expectations, who isn’t going to overload it with apps. And at this price, its shortcomings are very easy to overlook indeed.

SCORES Look & feel

Performance

Value for money

Overall

SUPERTEST

SMARTPOYNT ANDROID TABLET

t would be nice if local outfit Smartpoynt actually gave its products snappy names, but alas it does not. Thus, the Smartpoynt Tablet is all we have to go on for nomenclature here. The tablet itself is very basic, with entry-level hardware that makes it as cheap as chips. It’s as if Smartpoynt asked someone in China to build them a tablet for as cheap as possible, slapped a vanilla version of Android 4.4.2 on the thing with minimal changes and put it on the South African market hoping its silly-money price would attract attention. The end result isn’t actually that bad. The Smartpoynt looks and feels like a tablet that could demand a higher price, and performs within 4 000 points of the Asus on Antutu’s benchmarking software, making it a little sluggish but not unbearably so. It also has space for two SIM cards, another remarkable feat in a tablet so cheap, that will let people set it up with cellular data and use it as a phone with two cell numbers. The screen and storage are by far the worst things about it. The low resolution is tricky with websites that aren’t optimised for mobile, for example. But at this price does anyone care? The Smartpoynt Tablet is good enough, and thus perfect as first-time tablet for a young ’un.

DETAIL • Processor: Quad core Cortex A7 1.3GHz • RAM: 1GB • Storage: 6GB, expandable up to 32GB with microSD • Operating System: Android 4.4.2 • Display: 7-inch IPS touchscreen @ 1024 x 600 • Connectivity: WiFI, 2G, 3G • Camera: 5MP front, 1.9MP back R1 908

SCORES Look & feel

Performance

Value for money

Overall

CONCLUSION

ony makes an unbelievably good Android tablet that looks, feels and sounds like it belongs on the high-end side of things, so the Xperia Tablet Z3 Compact is easily the best tablet in this roundup even though our review unit didn’t come with a SIM card slot. Its build quality, looks and performance are sublime… but not everyone has R5k or more to spend on a tablet. If you do, get this one, but if not the other two are certainly worth a closer look. The ASUS Z170MG presents a mighty tempting option indeed, as it outperforms the Smartpoynt by a significant margin and costs only a bit more.

Both tablets have a lot going for them, particularly on the price front, but at the same time both underdeliver when it comes to build quality and their displays. This won’t make them any less useful or attractive for first-time tablet owners, however. Ultimately, you can hardly go wrong spending less than R2k on a tablet as any and all foibles are made easily overlookable by that silly-money price, but if you want a tablet that hits all of the right notes, the Z3 Compact is by far the best option.

R’S EDITOIC CHO E

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 19

SUPERTEST

: PERFECTLY PRICED PHONES

Three top smartphones for less than R1 600! Money is tight all over this year, but at least your phone doesn’t have to cost much. Here’s our guide to the best budget handsets.

nergy prices are going through the roof, rates have risen and the cost of petrol just started to climb yet again. The rand is down, debts are up and there’s

not a lot of cheery news when it comes to money in South Africa right now. Except this. If you’re looking to buy a new smartphone, you can save yourself a

few bob because there’s no need to buy a flagship these days. In fact, less than R1 600 will get you a top notch phone – if you follow our advice, anyway.

SAMSUNG GALAXY J1

he Galaxy J1 is a very basic 4.3-inch Android phone aimed at first-time phone users. Translation: its below-average hardware is more 2010 than 2015 as it has no 3G or LTE connectivity, and it performs only “okay”, falling down when surfing the web, attempting to run multiple apps and even gaming thanks to a very uninspired dual-core processor and barely half a gig of RAM. It’s rescued from total obsoletion by a passable 5MP rear camera that takes good outdoor pics, especially macros, a pleasantly colourful screen that doesn’t distort at odd angles, and a battery that lasts all day even with heavy use. You’ll need a memory card to store more than a few games and apps at a time, though, as the J1 only has 4GB of internal storage, of which 2GB is taken up by the OS. Gaming is possible, but expect games to lag after a few minutes of play. On the upside it’ll do phone calls, SMSes and messaging just fine, though, so as a basic communication device it’s suitable.

DETAILS • Display: 4.3 inch, 480 × 800 resolution LCD display (217ppi) • Operating System: Android 4.4.4 • Processor: 1.3GHz Dual-core Cortex A7 • Memory: 512MB of RAM • Storage: 4GB, expandable with a microSD card • Battery: 1 850mAh • Camera: 5 megapixel rear camera, 2MP front-facing camera • Networking: 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, HSPA R1 489 (Vodacom)

VODACOM SMART 4 TURBO DETAILS • Display: 4.5 inch, 480 × 854 resolution LCD display (218ppi) • Operating System: Android 4.4.4 • Processor: 1.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor • Memory: 1GB of RAM • Storage: 4GB, expandable with a microSD card • Battery: 1 880mAh • Camera: 5 megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera • Networking: 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, LTE R1599

n the surface, the Smart 4 Turbo isn’t that different from the Galaxy J1 - it’s similarly sized, their screens are nearidentical except for a few pixels and .2 of an inch, there’s only 8GB of internal storage between them and they both run Android 4.4 KitKat. They also have a 5MP camera each. But under the hood, the Smart 4 Turbo has a quad-core processor, a whole gig of RAM and an LTE modem. It’s therefore faster at everything - especially surfing the web - better at gaming and multi-tasking and a superior all-round phone, for only an extra R110. In fact, it performs well enough that it’s a fantastic option for grandparents and aspiring flagship phone owners alike, or even as a replacement for a much more expensive phone for someone on a budget but who wants a lot of bang for their buck. With the Smart 4Turbo, Vodacom has put affordable LTE connectivity and proper smartphone functionality within easy reach of even the most budget-conscious buyer.

IT’S NOT JUST ANDROID! TURN NOW WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 21

SUPERTEST

LUMIA 532 DETAILS • Display: 4-inch, 480 × 800 resolution LCD display (233ppi) • Operating System: Windows Phone 8.1 • Processor: 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor • Memory: 1GB of RAM • Storage: 8GB, expandable with a microSD card • Battery: 1 560mAh • Camera: 5 megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera • Networking: 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, HSPA R1 399

his little Windows phone from Microsoft won’t win any awards in the build quality category, but it does a great job of winning at being both useful and cheap. That’s because it costs just R1399 and is one of the few dual-SIM phones around, allowing people to pop in two micro SIMs and use just one phone to man two different numbers. It’s perfect for keeping work and personal stuff separate without having to carry a second phone, and Windows Phone is a very easy operating system that’s good for first-timers. But all that’s offset by cheap looks and a definite ‘budget’ feel, made all the worse by a terrible screen. Its colours are rather subdued and its overall brightness quite dull, plus the display distorts if you look at it from even a slight angle. There’s also no LTE connectivity, just HSPA. The 532 is better for storage, though, with 8GB to go around rather than the 4GB of the other two phones, and its day-long battery and fairly decent 5MP camera are laudable.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR…

o you’ve decided to go for a low priced handset, but there’s obviously many more on the market than our three picks here. What key features should you be looking out for before you part with your cash? The most important single feature is going to be the processor – it’s what separates a rubbish, last generation slowpoke with a perky little bargain that delivers more than you paid for. wwwis excellent for the price, and really where the sweet spot of performance is. But others fare well too, just avoid anything that’s too long in the tooth.

22 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

The second most important thing is the screen. At this price you’ll see a huge variety of screen quality and size isn’t everything by a long way. If you can, try before you buy and look for crisp colour reproduction over resolution. Four inches is the bare minimum for size – why settle for less than 4.5inches when they’re available in the Smart 4 Turbo though? And finally, keep an eye out for battery life. It’s hard to be precise, but again the Smart 4 Turbo is a good benchmark as it can boast more than 1 800mAh of power which should be enough for a full day.

REVIEWS

DETAILS

LG G4

• Display: 5.1inch, 2 560x1 440 • CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, six cores • Battery: 3 000mAh • Camera: 16Mp R8 999

Is the Korean firm’s new flagship close to perfect?

ooking at the LG G4 out of the box you would be hard pressed to find many differences to the G3, but they are in fact there and they are substantial. The 5.5 inch display is back, but this time it is flanked by larger bezels. That’s to accommodate the fact that the display is now curved: not flexible like the G Flex 2, but subtly bent. What the larger forehead bezel should allow for is a pair of front facing stereo speakers ala HTC’s One. Alas the mono, rear facing speaker returns to disappoint in comparison to what’s out there. Speaking of the rear of the G4, that’s where it holds the most difference over its main competition. The removable rear cover hides a removable battery and SD card expansion slot, something not easily found in the world of premium smartphones these days. There are several variants of the rear cover available for the G4 as well, from a regular plastic one to a heavy ceramic version. We highly recommend the leather one (not pictured). It brings a level of warmth

24 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

and tactile happiness that a regular plastic backing just cannot match, plus it lends the phone an air of sophistication that plastic fails to. We do wonder about the longevity of a cow-hide rear, but considering you can swap the phone’s covers out in a snap it shouldn’t be too much of an expense to manage halfway through the lifespan of your smartphone. LG has made the brave, and in our opinion correct, decision not to use the fastest processor from Qualcomm in the G4. The snapdragon 810 has had some issues, specifically regarding the sometimes excessive amounts of heat it generates. Instead the LG G4 is powered by a six-core Snapdragon 808 processor which scores lower in benchmarking but higher in our usage tests. Where the Snapdragon 810 powered G Flex 2 would stutter with animations and simple tasks, the 808 powered G4 breezed through every task sans hiccups. It’s hard to believe, but along with the 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage the G4 is the perfect spec for a 2015 flagship Android smartphone. Less in

this case is definitely more. The 5.5 inch, quad HD, 1 440×2 560 resolution, quantum IPS display is more than just a collection of impressive sounding terms. The G4’s new display is vastly improved from its predecessor’s. LG has managed to incorporate premium materials into the G4 without sacrificing the ability to swap out batteries and pump up storage with an SD card. If you opt for the leather clad version (and you really should) your G4 will be one of the best-looking, bestperforming smartphones available today.

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SCORES Design

Performance

Battery Life

Value for money

Overall

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imes have changed for gaming laptops. As one of the strongest growing segments of mobile computers, we’ve seen the back-breaking, battery-devouring, plastic-encrusted beasts of the past evolve over the last couple of years into thinner, lighter, faster creatures that could easily be mistaken for the tool of a businessperson. Gigabyte’s P35v3 is the perfect example of how far gaming laptops have come. Measuring just 21mm at its thickest, and tipping the scales at 2.3kg, it’s dramatically skinnier and lighter than the heavyweight bruisers of the past. It’s still relatively large thanks to the 15.6 inch display, which crams FULL HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 Antiglare Screen. The chassis is built primarily from aluminium, with a plastic base, and feels very solid. It does tend to get a little warm while gaming, but that’s to be expected when you’re packing top of the line hardware in such a slim package. The keyboard feels nice and stiff, and has backlighting for use in dim gaming dens, while the touchpad is accurate and responsive.

A huge range of I/O ports adorn each side, with twin USB 3.0 ports backed up by another two USB 2.0 ports. Three video options are provided in the form of HDMI, D-sub and a Mini-DisplayPort, allowing this thing to power basically any external display imaginable. An SD card reader is also included, along with headphone and microphone ports. Finally, Gigabit Ethernet is supplied via the single RJ-45 port. Heading into the guts of the machine reveals why it can command such a premium price. At the heart is Intel’s i7-4720HQ CPU, a quad-cored, HyperThreaded brute that ramps up to 3.6GHz when the going gets tough. This is paired with 16GB of DDR3 memory running at a brisk 1600MHz, more than enough for even the most demanding applications. Long term storage is similarly impressive, with the base model including 1TB mechanical drive spinning at 7200RPM but you can have 2 MSATA 512GB SSDs in RAID 0 mode. There’s even a DVD burner that can easily be removed to install other devices in its bay; just unlock the locking mechanism and it

slides right out. So far so good, but it’s this laptop’s GPU that is of most interest. Nvidia’s shiny new GTX 970M GPU is tasked with driving the behemoth of a display, and it’s based on the latest Maxwell architecture. This comes with 1280 CUDA cores along 6GB GDDR5, fed by a 256-bit memory bus. This places it somewhere between a GTX 950 and GTX 960 desktop part, more closely to the latter. Gigabyte has unleashed a seriously good looking new gaming laptop, with Beastly Firepower, adding to the plethora of gaming units that is already currently available on the market. What sets these units apart is the unique design, beefed up specs and the phenomenal price. These factors ensure that this laptop will surely stand out from the crowd, you’ll definitely not be disappointed to be the owner of this killer laptop. Available now at Evetech.co.za from R24, 499 Inc. VAT. For more info please visit the website Bit.ly/1NImpJd

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 25

REVIEWS

DETAILS • Display: 5-inch, 720×1280 resolution LCD display (294ppi) • Operating System: BlackBerry OS 10.3.1 • Processors: 1.5GHz dual core Krait • Memory: 2GB of RAM • Storage: 16GB expandable with a microSD card • Battery: 2 800mAh • Camera: 8 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front-facing camera • Networking: 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, LTE R3 999

BlackBerry Leap The big BB returns with an affordable smartphone. Is it any good?

t feels like just yesterday that BlackBerry was the phone to have if you wanted a smartphone. With BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service), BBM and a track ball, BlackBerry ruled the world. But then it all came to a rather abrupt end. These days Android rules the world with iOS nipping at its heels, and both have proven their capabilities in and out of BlackBerry’s native place – the office. Enter the Leap. At under four grand, it’s a very affordable phone with a full touchscreen and on-screen keyboard, built to a sturdy spec that looks for all the world like a Microsoft phone remix. It’s got all the traditional features of a BlackBerry, with none of the up front cost. While the BlackBerry 10 OS cannot compete with Android and iOS in the sheer number of apps available, it still has its place, especially in the business environment. BlackBerry seems determined to keep itself relevant and this only begs the question; does the Leap help keep BlackBerry relevant? The Leap is a mid-range phone that is aimed at what BlackBerry terms “power professionals,” but those who have a limited budget. The plastic body offers almost zero give when trying to twist and warp the body so it won’t be folding like an accordion in your pocket. On top of that physical strength the plastic is resistant to dirt and grime so the Leap should keep looking good for quite some time. The Leap’s design is what one would 26 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

expect for a phone in this price range. At the bottom there is the microUSB port and on the right hand side are the two volume buttons as well as the BlackBerry Assistant button. On the opposite side of the phone is a little hatch that offers access to the SD and SIM card slots. The only real design flaw is the placement of the power button which is located on the top of the phone just like the Leap’s predecessor, the Z10. All this makes the Leap rather ordinary in terms of looks and it won’t be drawing too much attention when pulled out of the pocket. The real beauty behind the BB10 OS is its Spartan use of resources. This means that BlackBerry phones don’t need a quad or octo-core processor to run smoothly. With that in mind the presence of a Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon chipset and a Krait dual core 1.5GHz CPU shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise nor the 2GB of memory. While that processor is hardly beefy it packs enough punch to make the Leap run smoothly and respond promptly to whatever gesture is passed along its screen. While there is 16GB of internal storage only around 10GB of it is usable with the rest being taken up by the OS and preinstalled apps. Thankfully the microSD card slot can handle cards of up to 128GB so its not a total loss. The rest of the hardware is nothing special and includes the standard 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. The fact that the chipset supports LTE does help to reinforce the idea that

this phone is aimed at business people who are more interested in a phone with a long battery life and good connectivity options than overall flashiness. So the Leap is nothing exciting but is it worth considering? The answer is an unequivocal, emphatic yes. For those who want a reliable business phone but don’t want to break the bank the BlackBerry Leap make perfect sense. The battery life is stunning, the responsiveness of the OS sublime and the quality of the handset is undeniable. It might not be breathtakingly beautiful but the Leap is the culmination of years of BlackBerry expertise and magic. I wouldn’t use it for my personal phone, I love my Android too much, but for my work phone I am a die-hard BlackBerry man and the Leap only strengthened my love for the brand. An extended version of this review is available at Bit.ly/1Negyem

SCORES Build quality

Price

Components

Performance

Extras

Overall

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Reeling with joy

US firm revisits the past for a great way to view digital photos of the future.

he biggest problem with digital photography and the digital era is that 99% of our lives live on hard drives, never to be seen again. We are in such a rush to make images, but we almost never get around to printing them or showing them to people without them having to huddle around our smartphone or laptop. So imagine our excitement when we discovered Reelagram. This American outfit has come up with an innovative way to relive two of my childhood pastimes, looking at photos and playing with a ViewMaster. Now those of you who are under

the age of 35 most probably donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any idea about what a View-Master is. View-Master was the trademark name of a line of special format stereoscopes that used thin cardboard reels containing seven stereoscopic 3D pairs of small colour photographs on film. The system was introduced in 1939, in the early days tourist attractions and travel views were the typical reels that were available, but as the system gained popularity childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cartoons became the most common reels available. Reelagram has taken this old technology and integrated it with the modern age of Instagram, making it possible for you to

really bring your images to life. All you have to do is sign into Reelagram website using your Instagram details, then choose 7 images from you gallery and send them off to where the magic happens. They will then ship you a personalized real, with your images and a View-Master to your door. Pricing for us here in South Africa is not bad at $29.95 for one reel and a viewer and $19.95 just for a reel. However, the cost of shipping will put a bit of a dent in your pocket. But as a one-off or for something different for a special occasion it may be worth it.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 29

REVIEW

DETAILS • Manufacturer: Olloclip R900

Olloclip for iPhone 6

Think your iPhone’s camera is good? Think again.

he camera on the iPhone has never been much of a slacker. As a professional photographer, I’ve relied on various Apple snappers on assignments over the years when I have found myself in a situation where a “real” camera could not do the job. The iPhone camera, though, isn’t what you’d call a perfect substitute and there are a lots of add-ons that seek to expand the its abilities beyond the built-in defaults. One such peripheral is the Olloclip lense, which sticks to the back of your phone and combines multiple optical upgrades for the cameras. It’a also been updated for the iPhone 6 and 6 plus. Olloclip’s new system can accommodate both the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus without an issue. The new 4-in-1 lens system includes a fisheye lens, wide-angle lens and two macro lenses. The new mount system is pretty fantastic,

unlike previous versions that clipped on the corner of the phone and always felt like it was going to fall off. This new 4-in-1 system has a metal clip that slides over the middle of the phone and uses plastic inserts to adjust the fit for the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. The major plus is that it works like a dream with both the front and rear cameras. Swapping between the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus inserts proved to be a little bit of a chore, but there is an instruction card showing you how to do this included in the pack. While swapping between phones may be a little frustrating, it’s doubtful many users will be doubling up with both an iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, so a minute of your time to make the fiddly transfer isn’t really the end of the world. Because of the size difference of the 6 and 6 Plus there had to be some compromise. The system clips into place perfectly and easily on

the 6 covering both lenses perfectly, on the 6 Plus it mounts just as easily, however, you have to move the clip left or right to cover the lens that you are going to use. Once in front of the correct lens, it seats perfectly and you can snap away. At around R900, the Olloclip isn’t cheap but given the results compared to buying a separate camera system, the 4-in-1 kit is good value for money. They are simple to use and the upgraded clip really secures it to your phone properly. The size of this system ensures that it is not a pain to have it with you pretty much everywhere that you go. It is even small enough to fit into your skinny jeans, which means that you will have it to hand when the barista hands over a cappuccino with a pretty picture of a cat.

FOUR-IN-ONE: WHAT CAN OLLOCLIP DO? FISH EYE

WIDE ANGLE

10X & 15X MACROS

The fish-eye lens will give you a view of almost everything around you, including your feet if you are not careful.

The wide-angle lens is a little disappointing; while it does give you a wider field of view compared to the standard lens on your iPhone, the images are a lot more blurry around the sides of the frame and straight lines tend to bend quite badly.

Olloclip’s macro lenses are worth the price of this kit on their own, the quality and sharpness of the images made with these two lenses are mind-blowingly good.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 31

INTERVIEW

The South African snapper who’s gone back to basics

Shayne Robinson talks to a modern press photographer who’s going old school.

ujahid Safodien, or ‘Muj’ as he is affectionately known by those in the industry, is what I would call a real photographer. He has the ability to see images and stories where the rest of us see nothing. Safodien first picked up a camera in Cape Town in 1994 and his photography was an extension of his activism. He has worked for many national newspapers and wire agencies during his 21 years behind the lens. Over these years, he has taken many iconic images documenting the changes in South Africa. But out of all of these there’s one moment that sticks in his memory. “I will never forget taking pictures of Nelson Mandela when he made his first speech as President of South Africa, it has stayed with me all the years,” Safodien says. But when asked about his favourite pictures, it is not one of his fantastic press images that he calls up. “My favourite pictures are the ones of my children, documenting their lives is a non-stop lifelong photographic project,” says Safodine. He does not call himself a photojournalist, or even a photographer. “I am a storyteller, a person with a camera, I am drawn to documentary photography but make most of my income in photojournalism,” he says.

Safodine is not your typical gung-ho photojournalist. There’s no sense of bravado about when talks about what he does for a living, nor any trace of the ego that’s often mistaken for a job requirement. Personally I think that this is one of the reasons that he manages to make the images that he does. He blends into the background and always walks away with images that are exceptional. Safodien started his career working on film cameras, but as the needs of the industry changed he moved over to digital. However, he has once again picked up his trusty film Leica and is currently working on a project called Back TO Basics. “I am going back to the roots of photography, to remind myself of the fundamentals,” he says, “On film you have to use your imagination, whereas on digital you just delete the pictures you don’t want.” Safodine believes that all photographers get stuck in a routine and it would be good for any photographer to do something that reminds them of the fundamentals. “I hope to learn more about my photography and that’s why I am doing it,” he adds. Safodien says that as photographers, sometimes we need to go back ito go forward.

While many photographers are torn on the subject of social media and platforms like Instagram and there, have been raging debates online for years about how these platforms are killing professional photography. “Instagram and other social media are important,” says Safodien, “As they could be used to promote your ideas as a photographer, there is a place for it, but it’s how you approach it that is important. “In the end you will always be able to tell the difference between a cell phone picture or a picture taken by a professional camera,” he adds. He encourages youngsters who would like to take up photography as a career to follow their hearts. “Believe in yourself and invest in yourself because nobody else will. Make images, no matter what,” he says. Safodine says there will always be a place for visual storytellers because photography has no words, it is a language on its own and is spoken and understood by everybody. You can read an extended version of this interview at Bit.ly/1SK6HR3

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 33

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HOME AUTOMATION

utomating your home will take some doing; you can do it yourself with the right mix of connectivity, intelligent electronics and smartphone apps, or you can pay a company that specialises in doing it a whole lot of money to come in and install everything you’ll need. DIY types can simply look for electronics that comply with the X10 home automation standard, and you’ll be able to do everything yourself. You’ll also need a home network for

everything to plug into, which we’ll get into a bit later. Once it’s all set up, you’ll be able to control a lot of your home electronics even when you’re not there using an app on your phone or tablet that connects to your home via the internet. Forgotten to arm your alarm? No problem, the app can switch it on. Want to close your lounge curtains and turn your lights on before you get home? Totally doable through the app, and it doesn’t matter where you are, so long as you have internet access. Neat!

at it takes to kit Here’s a rundown of wh 21st century, and the your home out for the once plugged into the t, brilliant products tha all possible, will make network that makes it nicer. your life just that much

GET THE PROS IN: THREE SA FIRMS WHO WILL TRANSFORM YOUR HOME SimpleTech

Based in Cape Town, this firm specialises in not just home automation, but energy-efficient lighting, homes and buildings as well as audio visual setups.

Touch Home Automation

This Fourways-based company specialises in energy-efficiency and home automation.

Parallel Systems

Another Jozi-based lot, Parallel Systems supplies uninterruptible power solutions, home automation and security options that include CCTV and “intruder early-warning” systems.

HERE COMES APPLE…

Tell these WiFi connected lightbulbs from Philips to change colour with an app.

As ever, the name to watch in home automation is Apple. While it doesn’t do much in the area now, it’s just added a technology it calls HomeKIt to its iOS devices which is designed to make your phone or tablet speak to your applianes with ease. How it works, is once users have hooked up the HomeKit-compatible gadget to their Apple device, they can control them with Siri, Apple’s digital assistant that interprets voice commands. To use HomeKit when people are away from home requires the presence of a 3rd-gen Apple TV, which acts as a hub that receives Siri’s commands via iCloud, and distributes them within the home via WiFi and Bluetooth.

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Device and accessory colours may vary by operator or retailer, and are subject to availability. All rights reserved. © 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows and the Windows logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or tradenames of their respective owners. Speciﬁcations correct at time of going to print. E&OE.

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THE HEART OF ANY NETWORK

he most important piece of equipment you’ll need for a connected home is a modem router. These little boxes are the focal point of your network; they are how you get access to the wider internet, and the hub to which all of your smartphones, tablets, games consoles, laptops and PCs connect. It’s important to get one that’s right for your specific needs. To determine that, you need to decide what it is, exactly, you’d like to be able to do with your network.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF Do I want to stream Full HD or 4K movies wirelessly to my phones and tablets from a media centre PC or player? Do I want to use Steam Streaming to stream games from my gaming PC to a tablet or lesspowerful PC? Do I need to copy large amounts of data between my devices? This is important because not all routers are created equal, and you need to get one that meets your network’s performance requirements.

For instance, if you’d like to stream 1080p movies from your storage-rich PC to your phones and tablets, or copy music and video files to your phones and tablets, an 802.11b/g/n router is fast enough, but 4K video is more demanding and is better-served with an ac-class router.

802.11B/G/N: BORING BUT DEPENDABLE If you’d like to stream 4K movies or stream games from a Steam PC to a tablet using Steam In-Home Streaming, activities that use a comparatively larger chunk of data per second, you should invest in an AC-class router, which can (theoretically) perform as fast wirelessly as one that uses wires. Fortunately these have become quite ubiquitous in recent years, but they’re still a bit on the expensive side. Plus, whatever you connect to them via WiFi will also need to support the technology, otherwise getting an AC-class router is a waste of money. It would be like pouring a bucket of water out through a straw.

SECURING YOUR WIFI WIRELESS SECURITY CAMERAS These are great for keeping an eye on your home from anywhere there is internet access. To use them, you must connect them to your home network and then download and configure the corresponding app for use on your phone or tablet; once set up, you just need to fire up the app, choose your zoom level and watch, even if you’re far from home.

o you have your router in place, but now you need to secure it so that the neighbours don’t chew up your monthly bandwith or steal your expensive data. Here’s what you need to know. The key to making sure that only the devices you allow to use your WiFi is securing your network with a long, complicated password and choosing the very best WiFi security protocol that’s least vulnerable. The idea is that only devices that have that password and are compatible with the correct security protocol can connect. When it comes to your WiFi password, the longer and more complex it is the lower the chance of someone guessing it or being able to easily crack it with advanced hacker tools becomes. Follow these guidelines, and your password will be nigh-on uncrackable without the help of a supercomputer. Don’t use words that you’ll find in a dictionary, or the names of friends, family and pets. Do not use birth dates.

Create a password or string of characters that’s at least 12 characters long. If you absolutely have to use a word that you’ll remember, swap out letters for numbers (3 for E, 4 for A, 0 for O, 1 for L etc.), capitalise random letters and include a string of characters at the end. As an example, awesomesauce becomes Aw3s0m3s4uC3)(*&^%. Some reckon you should change your WiFi password every month or so, just to be safe. As for the type of wireless security to use, the very best one commonly found in routers today is WPA2-AES. That’s the second revision of the WiFi Protected Access (WPA) protocol that closes a lot of the vulnerabilities inherent to the original WPA standard, made even more secure by AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption that is next to impossible to crack without military assistance. Basically, by securing your WiFi signal in this way, the chances of strangers jumping onto your network are slim to none.

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EXTENDING ITS REACH

ireless network technology isn’t perfect, and even the latest routers can have their WiFi signals interfered with by things like walls, microwaves, other electronics; even furniture can lead to spotty connectivity and slow data transfer speeds. To get around this, you can always extend the reach of your WiFi signal with a wireless range extender, also called an “access point”. An access point is merely a secondary WiFi router that plugs into your original router with a network cable, and broadcasts its own WiFi signal wherever it’s been placed. It’s a handy way to get WiFi signal into places like basements and rooms on the far side of your home or business.

POWERLINE ADAPTERS

id you know you can also use your home’s existing electrical wiring to connect internet-ready gadgets to your home network? All you need is two “powerline adapters”, small bits of networking kit that plug into regular power sockets and connect to each other over the wiring that connects your home to the power grid. One adapter connects to your router with a network cable and is plugged into a nearby wall socket, the other is plugged into another socket close to the devices you want to connect – say, an older-model TV that doesn’t do wireless networking. That second adapter connects to the TV with another network cable, and voila, that TV is connected to your network without you having to run a cable all over your home, cluttering up the place. Early powerline adapters weren’t very fast, but today’s ones support speeds of up to a gigabit per second. They’re great for setting up wired network connections around your home without having to run cables all over the place.

38 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

TO RECAP: All sorts of home and business electronics need to be connected to the internet for you to get the most out of them. To make that happen, this is what you need to do: Buy a b/g/n or ac-class router depending on what you want to use your network for. Most important to remember is that b/g/n is cheaper, ac is faster. Expand the coverage of your WiFi signal

with a range extender if you find the WiFi connection drops or is slow in certain parts of your home or office. Secure your WiFi network with a very long, highly complex password and WPA2-AES wireless security. Powerline adapters can be used to provide network connectivity between two plug points in your home.

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WHAT IS A SMART TV?

odern television sets are no longer simply dumb boxes that only show you a picture beamed in from elsewhere, they connect directly to the internet and have their own built-in computers as well that let them function more like personal computers than mere television sets. That means you can play video files stored on external storage devices, surf the internet, download apps and even play games directly on the TV itself. Smart TVs are generally more expensive than their non-smart counterparts, but that’s because they offer so much more than just a screen that connects to external media sources.

THE IDIOT BOX GETS SMART: Some smart TVs like the Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 11 go above and beyond with extras like sensors that adjust the image according to lighting conditions, high-quality built-in speakers and music services like Deezer and Spotify.

GAMING

MSI AORUS X7 Want a brilliant gaming laptop that’ll play all the games at 1080p? The X7’s dual graphics setup will let you do exactly that, but at a price: R30k or thereabouts.

aming is increasingly replacing movie and TV-watching as the chosen pastime for families in the digital age, and the choices as to how to go about it are many. You can choose a gaming PC or laptop that will set you back anything from R10 000 to R60 000, or for a more straightforward (and cheaper) experience, a dedicated games console from Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo for around R6 300 apiece that can play games on a TV or monitor. PCs are great because of the sheer variety of games available, many of which can be bought for very little money, but PC hardware and Windows can be complex to run and maintain. Games consoles, on the other hand, are super-simple to operate – put in game, update game, play game – but individual games can cost as much as R899 a pop.

GAMES CONSOLES Or, for much less, you can grab an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 for around R6k, spend the difference on games and never leave your house again.

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ONLINE STREAMING SERVICES

ove movies and TV series but hate paying almost a grand a month to watch? South Africa has several video on demand (VOD) services that you can subscribe to that deliver both via satellite or the internet. Subscriptions tend to offer access to older movies, while more recent flicks tend to be only available on an immediate rental basis. Series generally fall under the subscription model, but shows tend not to be current. If you want the absolute latest episodes of your favourite series, you’ll need to subscribe to a satellite TV service. Costs range from R69 to R149 a month for a subscription to anything from R15 to R25 per movie, and newer movies are more expensive. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start for our fledgling market.

WHICH VOD SERVICE? DStv’s BoxOffice service has plenty of movies to rent online from R15 to R35 each, and anyone can sign up over at boxoffice.dstv.com.

POPULAR SA AOD SERVICES Rdio and Simfy have excellent music selections for a wide variety of tastes.

STREAM AROUND THE HOME

edia Streamers play music and video on your TV or monitor. They connect to your home network either wirelessly or with a cable, and come with their own remote control. Viewing videos is as easy as copying them to the media player’s hard drive over your home network or plugging in a memory stick and hitting Play. They cost anywhere from a few hundred rand for players that don’t have internal storage, to a few thousand for players that can store up to 2TB of data. While some smart TVs have media-playing functionality built in, often dedicated media players provide better interfaces, as well as support for a wider variety of digital video file types and are allround easier to use.

WHICH MEDIA PLAYER? We love WD’s WD TV as it plays any file you throw at it, looks good and has plenty of storage options. Other good options are a Roku 3 or any in the Mede8er range.

AUDIO

ireless speaker systems really open up the audio possibilities in a connected home.They can be programmed to pipe music through to whatever room you happen to be in, or receive audio input over Bluetooth from any Bluetooth-enabled phone, tablet or laptop. More advanced speakers can even push music from room to room, allowing your tunes to

follow you as you move around without having to do anything. But the best part about wireless speakers is the versatility they offer: you can place them just about anywhere you can get power to, without being restricted by the cables that connect them to the amp. Ask your home automation specialist about the magic of wireless speakers, and they will point you in the right direction.

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ADSL VERSUS LTE BROADBAND HOW TO GET ADSL Step 1: Get a landline telephone. Call Telkom on 10210 to start the process. Step 2: Find out what ADSL speeds your local exchange supports by visiting telkom. co.za/adslchecker. Enter your new telephone number and you’ll be shown what speeds are available to you. Step 3: Contact an internet service provider of your choice to get ADSL activated on your new phone line. Step 4: Choose your data package. Options include going uncapped, where your data isn’t limited but performance fluctuates according to how congested the ADSL network is, and capped which offers limited data, but it’s guaranteed to come down at the full speed of your ADSL line until it’s finished.

DSL is internet delivered over Telkom’s copper wire telephone network, and is a relatively cheap, low-latency internet connection that’s great for everything from gaming online to downloading big files. You must have a physical telephone line to use it, though. You can get a 4Mbs ADSL connection and 150GB of data for R721pm, made up of R133 line rental, R299 for a 4Mbps ADSL circuit and R289 for 150GB of data.

THE LONG TERM EVOLUTION AND SHORT-TERM RIPOFF For homes located in areas where you can’t connet to the telephone network, connecting via wireless technologies like LTE and LTE-A through a big-name cellular network is the best option. These, however, tend to

44 | TECH MADE EASY | JULY 2015

be more expensive than ADSL as the pergigabyte cost is much higher, but they are also faster when it comes to downloads. You’re looking at R499pm for a modem and just 10GBs of data from Telkom, for instance. Sure, your speed is higher – LTE can operate at anything up to 150mbps – but it leaves you with far less data to play with. But wait, there’s something you should really know. Telkom is currently running a pilot for uncapped LTE-A, priced at just R599 a month, which makes it the best value broadband in the country. It’s a good move toward an affordable, wireless internet solution for all South Africans, but right now this isn’t for everyone because you need to live in an area that has been specifically designated for the trial.

ONLINE GAMING Both LTE and ADSL are good for gaming on South African servers under ideal conditions, but overall ADSL is better as it’s the more stable and reliable technology of the two. It’s also slightly quicker for gaming. LTE is a little less predictable than ADSL as factors like the weather, network congestion, and your physical location can and do impact on how it performs. On a bad day performance can drop by a factor of three. Our own testing with LTE-A and ADSL showed pings to local Battlefield 3/4, Call of Duty servers of between 10 and 30ms (ADSL) and between 20 and 40ms (LTE-A), which means multiplayer games are very playable on both.

WIN!

COMPETITION

AN LG G4 SMARTPHONE AND SATCHEL WORTH R12 000! GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS AWESOME NEW PHONE FROM LG!

f you ran a staff poll about the best smartphone to buy at the moment, there’s a pretty good chance that LG’s brand new G4 would come out on top. Some would pick it for the massive screen crammed into a reasonably sized body, others for its excellent camera and yet more for the fact that it’s nigh on the last remaining smartphone with a removable battery. More yet would just say that it’s the best designed phone out there. Which is why we’re very excited to have teamed up with LG to give one away for free. We’ve got one phone and a rather natty leather satchel to go with it, which together are worth over R12 000. From the design to the camera to the display to the user interface, the new LG G4 gives consumers a truly human-centric device that combines analogue sensibilities with technologies that delivers real world performance as well as a visual experience like no other smart phone. The G4 has a beautiful sense of elegance and humanity as well as a durable curved design dubbed ‘Slim Arc’ by the manufacturer. This stunning and ergonomic curvature is optimised for humans to have a better smartphone experience. What’s unique about this Slim Arc design is that it runs along G4’s entire body, which is more than a beautiful accent. It’s more than just an attractive adornment; it also naturally fits the contours of the human body and is exceptionally stable when you hold it in one hand. Moreover, it offers about 20% more durability in comparison to a flat smartphone in the case of face-down drops.

TO ENTER

POINT YOUR BROWSER AT HTXT.CO.ZA/WINANLGG4 TO ENTER

If you want to stand a chance of winning this awesome phone, simply point your browser at htxt.co.za/winanlgg4 and answer the following question: What is the name of the design style for the LG G4? The closing date is 31st July 2015. See the entry form for T&Cs.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 45

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htxt africa

news . features . reviews . opinions . culture

makers htxt africa

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Durban’s Makerspace has a plan to get more South Africans making How one KZN-based maker is trying to create a national network of places where you can go and create stuff.

he South African maker community regularly comes up with world-class innovations and ideas, but it’s still a small and fairly closeknit place to be. The next big challenge is to get more people involved, and open even more places where people can access 3D printers, CNC machines, soldering irons and more traditional crafts like leather and ironworking. And that’s exactly what founder of Durban’s The Makerspace, Steve Gray, is hoping to achieve. Along with the heads of existing hack and makerspaces around the country, he wants to develop a formal network of places where people can go and learn how to craft, code and print. The idea, he says, will be to use The Makerspace branding to promote events

within existing hubs, and to put together a toolkit for anyone wanting to build a new one. Gray spoke about the initiative at the inaugural The Makerspace on Tour event, which was held as part of a recent JoziConnect Session at JoziHub. Gray spoke to Joburg-based entrepreneurs about the global maker movement and the joy of learning and creating with maker tools. Perhaps more pertinently, he also spoke about why maker culture will be vital to the generation of entrepreneurs on whose backs the burden of South Africa’s terrible youth unemployment figures sit. The talk included demonstrations of 3D printing and leatherworking, His next stops are Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. “Maker culture is the resurgence of

making things for yourself,” Gray explains, “There is something called [Theseus’] paradox: ‘This is my grandfather’s axe, my father changed the handle and I changed the head. This is my grandfather’s axe.’ The paradox is that there is nothing left of the grandfather, but it still carriers his heritage. There is that lack of heritage, we can bring that back by making.” Bit.ly/1QQ2hdT

LISTEN UP! Want to hear our editor-inchief interview Steve Gray? Check out the podcast here: Bit.ly/1QQ2r5e

STATS

SA tech

The numbers that sum up the best of the month

in stats

Caitlyn Jenner broke US President Barack Obama’s record for fastest Twitter account to 1 million followers. It took Obama 5hrs. Jenner did it in 4. Bit.ly/1Ni3xRu

163 126 unique users logged onto Project Isizwe free Wi Fi service on the Tshwane Bus Rapid Transit system making use of 21 000GB of free data in 6 months.

Bit.ly/1BAz9Ay

SunEdison has announced it will build 5 more solar plants in South Africa totaling 371 megawatts in addition to the 86 megawatt solar power plant earmarked for Kimberley. Bit.ly/1CspUxk

Sony has confirmed the July 15th release date of its 1TB version of the Playstation 4 that is 10 percent lighter and use 8 percent less power.

Tech entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth lost his court battle against the South African Reserve Bank for R250 million deducted when he moved his R2.5 billion fortune out of the country.

Bit.ly/1LmN13F

Bit.ly/1Hgi3sd Enjoy this free copy of htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy? There’s loads more stories like these, plus in-depth features and news published daily at our website www.htxt.co.za.

Intel’s new Diversity Fund is to invest upward of R1.5 billion over the next five years in tech startups run by minorities and women worldwide. Bit.ly/1dyIAW3

NEXT MONTH

And if you want even more, keep your eyes peeled for issue 18 from 1 August in all good technology retailers.